Friday, 28 August 2015

Logs of Friday 28th August 2015Solar activity was sufficient to prevent short / medium skip on the 48 metre band throughout the day and evening. Signals were only being heard beyond about 500 km, maybe more.No Western European stations were heard at my location. Listeners in Norway, Spain and South - western France reported reception of some stations from the Netherlands. Medium Wave was quite good.1635 @ 1932Yogi & Einstein - 33333; "In The Ghetto" by Elvis Presley4025 @ 1944 Laser - 34333; I Am The Music Man" by Black Lace1656 @ 2005 Mustang - 34444; "March From The River Kwai" by Mitch Miller1638 @ 2010 Calimero - 34333; "David's Song" by The Kelly Family, "Ich Hab Genug von Deinen Lügen " by Calimeros1350 @ 2025 I AM Radio - 24333; "Back Together Again" By Roberta Flack ft. Donny Hathaway

Goodbye Radio 5 - More Dutch MW stations leave the bandFrom this Friday, Radio Maria and Radio 5 will leave the MW for good. This will affect the Radio 5 transmitters on 747 and 1251. Maria's MW outlet is 675. Alternatives include DAB+ and the Internet. Not much good in the car though!From the NPO website:"Programming stops AM SaturdayListeners beware: The regular program of NPO Radio 5 can no longer be heard from Saturday morning through the AM"Further details (in Dutch): http://radio5nostalgia.nl/nieuws/2867/programmering-am-stopt-zaterdag

From the Maria website:"Radio Maria goes digitalAfter September 1 Radio Maria Netherlands can be heard exclusively digitally. The Catholic radio station disappears from the medium wave (AM) but continues to be received via DAB+ and the internet"

Pirate radio: How today's rebels have exchanged the North Sea for coffee shops and restaurantsNo more bobbing about in “pirate” boats on the North Sea or shimmying up urban tower blocks to fix an FM aerial: today’s radio rebels broadcast from coffee bars, record shops and restaurants, commanding global online audiences – and working within the law.Online stations are now transforming Britain’s radio sector with their specialist knowledge and unique choice of location.A prime example of the movement is MEATtransMISSION, which operates from the upstairs of a burger restaurant in Hoxton, east London. The station not only broadcasts to diners across the MEATliquor restaurant chain but attracts online listeners from 130 countries and follows rules which might not be recognisable to Ofcom, including: “no bongos”, “no hippies” and “no Coldplay”.(Extract from the UK daily newspaper The "I")Rest of the article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/pirate-radio-how-todays-rebels-have-exchanged-the-north-sea-for-coffee-shops-and-restaurants-10468413.html

Saturday, 15 August 2015

Logs of Saturday 15th August 20156305 @ 1859 Norton - 35444; Instrumental music, ID and then CD6401 @ 1909 GSV - 23232; ID and jingles, noisy band6950 @ 1913 Bandido - 35333; "I Got The Boy" by Jana Kramer6254 @ 2039 Marabu - 35333; Tabula Rasa Part ii" by Freundeskreis; FK Allstars6400 @ 2043 Pioneer - 33333; Strange conditions, weak and fluttery, track I could not ID, "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran @ 20464025 @ 2047 Laser - 35333; "Best of You" by Kenny ThomasConditions were not good this evening: noisy band due to thunderstorms in Western Europe and an early close down for short skip which serves to remind us that Autumn is almost here!

When the Shortwave band is closed or there are no active
stations, I often scour the internet for new stations to add to my saved list
on the Denon Network Player. I came across a new station the other day and have been
listening to it since.

It is a former independent commercial radio station
called "Celtica Radio". This station has an interesting history: http://www.celticaradio.com/aboutus.html and a long list of experienced presenters. As I understand it, Celtica plays only music from established and new artists that is out of the jurisdiction of the Performing Rights Society, or Phonographic Performance Ltd.

Have a listen and see whether you agree with my
assessment: It is a professional
sounding station with an obvious UK sound, but with a definite Welsh flavour. You can find links to listen here: http://www.celticaradio.com/index.html

Many UK stations on the air do not succeed in sounding
like they are in any way local, being the output of large commercial
enterprises. Celtica sounds to me like a station that would deliver
that elusive local feel to the target audience in Bridgend and Wales in general.

Distribution of Pirates heard by Country (48 and 43 metre band) in JulyI did a list of all the "free" stations heard by myself in the 6mHz shortwave bands during July and came up with the following totals. I did not include stations like Laser where the location is uncertain, disputed or unknown.Not surprisingly, the number of stations heard from the Netherlands was the biggest again. Denmark: 1 Poland: 1 Czech Republic: 1 Finland: 1 Germany: 2 Norway: 1 Italy 7 U.K: 10 The Netherlands: 52